Far Far Away

The middle grade novel Far Far Away is author Tom McNeal’s 2013 update of the Brothers Grimm fairytale “Hansel and Gretel.” Although some critics worry that some of the modernized elements render the story too grim for the 12-13-year-old readers that are the intended audience, McNeal’s whimsical approach to incorporating bits of magical realism come in for praise.

The novel is narrated in the first person by the ghost of Jacob Grimm – one of the Grimm brothers who collected fairytales during the 19th century, who now finds himself enmeshed into the life of a boy in the town of Never Better. Along with his description of the events surrounding this boy, Jeremy Johnson Johnson, Jacob’s ghost digresses into his own life and his memories of what it was like to be a folklorist traveling around the German countryside.

But Jacob isn’t just an observer of Jeremy – Jeremy can actually hear Jacob’s voice. When he was younger, he told people about the “strange whisperings” only he could make out, and since then the townspeople of Never Better have treated him as an odd outcast. Never Better is the kind of town where anything or anyone out of the ordinary is quickly brushed under the rug. For instance, when several young boys disappear without a trace, the sheriff dismisses them as runaways.

Of course, it doesn’t help Jeremy’s reputation that his family doesn’t fit the ideal mold either. Some time ago, his mother left him and his father for a Canadian man passing through town. Since then, his father has been a recluse who barely ever manages to leave the house – and who certainly can’t manage to be a parent figure to poor Jeremy. Instead, his father obsesses over the reason his mother left. As far as he is concerned, it is because she ate a bite of a literally magically delicious Swedish cake called Prinsesstårta which causes the eater to fall in love with the first person they see.

Jeremy spends his days either studying or retreating to the attic full of fairytale books above his family’s failing book shop. The bookshop belonged to Jeremy’s grandfather, and features only two works: Volumes 1 and 2 of his grandfather’s autobiography. The family’s main source of income is Jeremy’s lawn-mowing business.

But one day, Jeremy’s luck seems to change. The fun, outgoing Ginger Boultinghouse is herself in the middle of eating a Prinsesstårta when she looks up and really sees Jeremy for the first time. All the qualities that made Jeremy an outsider in the town make him interesting to Ginger, and she quickly pulls him into her friend circle, a trio of girls who amuse themselves by pulling pranks around Never Better.

For anyone else, this sudden chance for friendship and romance would be good news, but in Jeremy’s case it only makes him a target. As Jacob’s ghost tells us, an evil force is skulking around the town: a mysterious being called the Finder of Occasions who is always on the prowl, watching and waiting for the opportunity to strike.

After a few pranks, Ginger and Jeremy decide to play a trick on the town’s baker, the Swedish Sten Blix, whose Prinsesstårta cakes and endearing nature make him a tempting mark. The prank works perfectly – until Sten catches the two of them red-handed in his Green Oven Bakery. Jeremy is worried that if the towns people find out he has been playing tricks on them, his lawn mowing business will fold – after all, his reputation is hanging on by a thread as it is. But Sten kindly offers Ginger and Jeremy a chance to redeem themselves by doing some manual labor. After they do, Sten offers them some drinks to refresh themselves – drinks that contain a powerful sedative.

While Jeremy and Ginger are unconscious, Sten drags them back to the basement of the Green Oven Bakery where he keeps them tied up along with Frank Bailey, an assistant Sten claimed had moved to California. From his half-mad ramblings about Rumpelstiltskin, the kids figure out that Sten is responsible for the all of the disappearing boys from the neighborhood. Because of an unhappy childhood, Sten has been kidnapping kids in order to have constant companionship. While they are imprisoned, Sten half-starves them, keeps them in the dark, and terrifies them with a variety of noises. At the same time, he forces Ginger and Jeremy to write fake letters to their parents pretending that they have run away from home. Jeremy tries to encode clues to their real whereabouts in his letters, but his father isn’t able to piece them together. Finally, after several weeks, Sten gets tired of taking care of them and brings them poisoned food. Although Jacob’s ghost warns them about the poison, they are so hungry that they are unable to resist eating it. Jacob’s ghost is stricken by his inability to help the kids, and decides to leave them to try to get help.

In the nick of time, Jacob’s ghost is able to communicate with Jenny Applegarth, a widow who has been getting closer to Jeremy’s father and has been pulling him out of his isolation. Jenny finds and frees the kids. Meanwhile, the police track Sten to his bakery, where they watch him walk into his own giant oven and kill himself.

The novel ends with Jeremy saying “I love you” to Jacob’s ghost, freeing him to leave for the afterlife.